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ARTICLE · 18 MAY 2023

Clean Hydrogen: How It's Produced And What We Can Do With It

Foley Hoag LLP
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In the first post, I alluded to the technical issues hydrogen developers are considering. Here we'll look at how hydrogen is produced and what it will be used for.

United StatesEnergy and Natural Resources
Aaron Lang
Aaron Lang
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[This is the second post in our Hydrogen Blog Series. Read the first post here.]

In the first post, I alluded to the technical issues hydrogen developers are considering. Here we'll look at how hydrogen is produced and what it will be used for.

How is hydrogen produced today?

We make hydrogen mainly using steam methane reforming ("SMR"). SMR requires steam, heat, and pressure to convert methane (in natural gas) to hydrogen and carbon monoxide. SMR is a high-carbon process that uses fossil fuels for process heat. Stakeholders have assigned colors to hydrogen depending on how it is produced. They typically refer to fossil SMR hydrogen as "grey" hydrogen.

How is clean hydrogen produced?

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